NHL Draft: Calgarian Adrian Foster was the forgotten man of the 2001 event

Scott Cruickshank, Calgary Herald06.24.2014

Calgarian Adrian Foster, who was drafted in the first round of the 2001 NHL draft by the New Jersey Devils, relishes the opportunity he’s had to travel the world even if an NHL career wasn’t in the cards.

And National Hockey League officials presiding over the 2001 entry draft? They are as confused as anyone.

They cannot find the prospect in question — his name appears not a single time on Central Scouting’s list of top 200 skaters in North America. Perhaps the New Jersey Devils have selected Aaron Foster, the tall winger of the Prince George Cougars? (Nope.)

Adrian Foster — surrounded by family in the stands at the National Car Rental Center in Sunrise, Fla. — knows exactly who the Devils have in mind.

Him.

So, as the hockey world buzzes with uncertainty, the Calgarian makes his way to the podium.

“It wasn’t quite as big of a surprise as it was made out to be,” Foster says now. “I had a feeling once New Jersey came around to pick. They didn’t exactly point their finger toward me (beforehand) and say, ‘You’re going to be picked,’ but I had a feeling . . . I had to get ready mentally because it might happen.”

Foster, at the NHL combine a few weeks prior, had been interviewed by more than 20 teams. Interest was there. He names two clubs that had been prepared to draft him.

“Big time,” says Foster. “A bunch of announcers, they’re not following it — they’re there for the day. They get their background information from Central Scouting. People who saw me play . . . recognized my talent.”

Which, once upon a time, had been considered immense.

Foster — 13 years after his day in the draft-day sun — is pecking away at an education, halfway through a management degree from Mount Royal University. (“I thought it was a good idea to get the brain firing. A bit of a regret that I didn’t start earlier.”)

His playing career, though, remains alive.

Over coffee the other day, he reflects on the perceived shortfall — a first-round pick failing to dress for a single NHL game.

“A lot of people are, ‘How did it not work out for you?’ ” Foster, 32, says. “A lot of factors went into it . . . but I’ve had an enjoyable life. Met interesting people. Made good money. Been able to see the world. Would I have liked a long career in the NHL? Of course. But it wasn’t in the cards. I fought it every year — and I’m still fighting it. There’s nothing more I could’ve done.

“I’m not sitting here saying, ‘I wish I could have.’ Every day I’ve woke up the past 15 years has gone toward the goal of bettering myself as a hockey player, bettering myself as a person. Whatever happens around that? I can’t control.

“At the end of the day, injuries stopped me from playing in the NHL.”

Never heard of Foster? It’s worth noting the potential.

With the 1997-98 Calgary Buffaloes — a midget outfit that included Krys Kolanos, Ben Knopp, Dany Heatley — he piled up 80 points in 36 dates.

As a 16-year-old with the Calgary Canucks of the Alberta Junior Hockey League, he collected 32 points in only 18 appearances. But slamming into an unforgiving post one night, the fearless forward cracked his right hip.

Mechanics thrown off, body out of whack, the other hip suffered. Then came abdominal troubles and subsequent operations — one side, then on the other.

“A long drawn-out process. Extremely frustrating.”

At 17, he could suit up only seven times for the Saskatoon Blades of the Western Hockey League. The following winter? Five appearances.

Nevertheless, New Jersey was sold.

He skated in pre-season matches for the Devils. He served as a black ace during their run to the 2003 Stanley Cup championship.

But by the time he was finally ready to make the jump — buoyed by a clean bill of health after a stretch in the American Hockey League — concussions spoiled more winters.

His relationship with the Devils soured.

In 2007-08 he got into 70 games for the Minnesota Wild’s farm club in Houston. Unable to parlay that into anything substantial, Foster, exasperated, went to Austria.

At 26 years old, “I probably went to Europe a little too early.”

He still found time to try out for the Florida Panthers, the Philadelphia Flyers. He played for the Colorado Avalanche’s minor-league crew in 2011-12.

Then in a single 60-game stretch — spread over three hobble-filled seasons — Foster suffered two high-ankle sprains, a broken foot, a broken ankle.

Feel cursed?

“Crazy stuff,” he nods. “But I don’t really believe in bad luck.”

His 2013-14 season concluded on the trainer’s table of the Abbotsford Heat. However, hooking up with the AHL affiliate of the Calgary Flames — his hometown heroes — had been no small thing.

“It did mean something to me,” says Foster. “I actually tried to come to the Flames for many years when I was younger.”

He pauses, chuckles.

“Funny — it took till I was 32 years old for it to happen.”

Now what? Well, he returns to Europe this fall for his 13th professional season. The resume continues to grow — with one rather large blank, with one unfulfilled dream.

“If it’s not meant to be, it’s not meant to be,” says Foster, shrugging. “I’ve turned over the stones and I’m at peace with maybe, possibly, not playing in the NHL. It would have been easy for me (to walk away) . . . I could’ve quit a thousand times, right? So I don’t regret it.”

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NHL Draft: Calgarian Adrian Foster was the forgotten man of the 2001 event